Regulationhttp://www.businessinsider.com/clusterstock/regulation
en-usSun, 02 Aug 2015 18:58:41 -0400Sun, 02 Aug 2015 18:58:41 -0400The latest news on Regulation from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-will-be-surprised-to-hear-what-new-yorks-ex-banking-regulator-just-said-about-regulators-2015-7Wall Street will be surprised to hear what New York's ex-banking regulator just said about regulatorshttp://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-will-be-surprised-to-hear-what-new-yorks-ex-banking-regulator-just-said-about-regulators-2015-7
Tue, 28 Jul 2015 15:23:26 -0400Jonathan Marino
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/55b7c6302acae711008bab10-617-463/new-yorks-lawsky-wants-senior-bnp-executives-fired-in-probe-sources.jpg" alt="New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky speaks during the Reuters Financial Regulation Summit in New York, April 29, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Segar " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky speaks during the Reuters Financial Regulation Summit in New York" /></p><p>The former top cop regulating the New York banking scene just gave his public opinion of regulators. Wall Street might be surprised to hear what he's saying.</p>
<p>Benjamin Lawsky used to head up New York's Department of Financial Services before he resigned this year to launch The Lawsky Group, a consulting firm. <br /><br />His mantra now? Let 'em play!</p>
<p>At Sourcemedia's Convene conference in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, Lawsky said that the role of a regulator should be like that of a good basketball referee.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"The ref should get out of the way, as long as there are guidelines in place, and let everyone play," he said during a&nbsp;lunchtime Q&amp;A session.&nbsp;</p>
<p>This&nbsp;hardly sounds like the same Lawsky that was a&nbsp;hard-charging prosecutor or DFS chief. In his time there, Lawsky imposed billions of dollars in <a href="http://www.dfs.ny.gov/about/press/pr1405191.htm">fines</a> and held up large private equity transactions ensuring investors were following the letter of the law when they did annuities&nbsp;deals.</p>
<p>On Wall Street, Lawsky's tough-cop approach <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-wall-street-prosecutors-that-are-viewed-as-the-next-benjamin-lawsky-2015-5">earned him</a> the scorn of some finance professionals.&nbsp;</p>
<p>But in his new role, he will advise technology companies and other firms on matters like security. During his on-stage Q&amp;A, Lawsky said that while&nbsp;he's advising financial services firms on technology and security he is "doing no work in the virtual currency space at all."&nbsp;</p>
<p>Lawsky published rules for running a bitcoin business in New York shortly before stepping down from his role&nbsp;as a regulator.</p>
<p>After his discussion Lawsky spoke with Business Insider about the event and addressed a column published on Tuesday&nbsp;in American Banker, a Sourcemedia publication. One of his ex-DFS colleagues <a href="http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/make-bank-consultants-directly-accountable-to-regulators-1075676-1.html">penned a piece</a> saying that consultants should be held directly accountable to regulators.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Lawsky said that while he hadn't read Daniel Alter's column, he agrees with its premise.&nbsp;</p>
<p>So, perhaps the man who was Wall Street's top cop hasn't changed very much at all.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-will-be-surprised-to-hear-what-new-yorks-ex-banking-regulator-just-said-about-regulators-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/real-correlations-that-dont-make-sense-maps-2015-6">6 compelling correlations that make absolutely no sense</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/congress-plan-strip-new-york-fed-policymaking-2015-7This is the GOP's plan to strip the New York Fed of a crucial role in policymakinghttp://www.businessinsider.com/congress-plan-strip-new-york-fed-policymaking-2015-7
Sat, 25 Jul 2015 15:49:19 -0400Jonathan Marino
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/55b3dd3e2acae716008ba076-2347-1760/rtr2nja3.jpg" alt="William C. Dudley" data-mce-source="Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters" /></p><p>Republicans on the <a href="http://financialservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-pih-frr-h001058.pdf">House Financial Services Committee took their first step toward stripping</a> the New York Federal Reserve bank of a key designation that could have an impact on how US monetary policy is set in the future.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Right now the New York Fed has a permanent seat on the Federal Open Market Committee, an internal monetary policymaking part of the Federal Reserve that will make the decision on when to increase interest rates.&nbsp;</p>
<p>But if GOP lawmakers have their way, the New York Fed's elevated influence will come to an end.</p>
<p>They want to strip the New York central bank branch of its permanent FOMC status and reduce its standing on the committee.</p>
<p>It is the latest in a series of contentious battles between the Federal Reserve, led by chair Janet Yellen, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/janet-yellen-cant-make-friends-in-congress-2015-7">Congressmen who have harshly criticized</a> the central bank's management and policies.&nbsp;</p>
<p>It would not be in the central bank's interest&nbsp;to have William Dudley, president of the New York Fed, excluded from key policy-making decisions because New York City is the East Coast's financial center, a source familiar with the Federal Reserve said. Few feel other central bank presidents would have up-to-the-moment understanding of policy decisions and their ramifications, the source said.&nbsp;</p>
<p>As Business Insider <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/house-republicans-want-to-strip-the-new-york-fed-of-a-crucial-power-2015-7">previously reported</a>, lawmakers on the&nbsp;<span>House Financial Services Committee Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee this week would hear&nbsp;a proposal that would strip the New York branch of the Federal Reserve of its elevated status on the FOMC. That proposal was, in fact, pitched by one Republican on July 22.&nbsp;</span><span><br /></span></p>
<p><span>A bill drafted&nbsp;by&nbsp;Michigan&nbsp;Republican committee member Bill&nbsp;Huizenga aims to rotate in and out every Federal Reserve bank branch in alternating years. This means that in odd-numbered years, the Fed banks of Boston, Philadelphia, Richmond, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Dallas would send a representative to the FOMC to make key policy decisions. </span></p>
<p><span>In even-numbered years, New York, Cleveland, Atlanta, St. Louis, Kansas City and San Francisco would provide representatives to the FOMC.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>The draft also aims to expand the authority of the Government Accountability Office to audit the bank's interest rate policies, something that Yellen and other Fed members have historically opposed. But <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fed-staff-economic-projections-leak-2015-7">the latest leak scandal at the Fed </a>could weaken the central bank's defenses before lawmakers the next time she visits Capitol Hill.&nbsp;</span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/congress-plan-strip-new-york-fed-policymaking-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/slacking-red-bull-backflip-sport-baylines-2015-6">People doing backflips on a two-inch wide strap is a real sport called slacklining</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/barney-frank-on-dodd-frank-5-years-later-2015-7BARNEY FRANK: Lloyd Blankfein's billionaire status 'disproves the argument' that regulation cripples Wall Streethttp://www.businessinsider.com/barney-frank-on-dodd-frank-5-years-later-2015-7
Sat, 25 Jul 2015 13:19:00 -0400Portia Crowe
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/55ad41102acae74c2f8b5b5e-3119-2339/rtxqb96.jpg" alt="Barney Frank" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst" data-link="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZ0GH56DE&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1482&amp;RH=867#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZ0GH56DE&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1482&amp;RH=867&amp;PN=3&amp;POPUPPN=140&amp;POPUPIID=2C0BF15PCQYK" /></p><p>Five years ago, former Rep.&nbsp;Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) loaned his name to a law that would come to define post-crisis financial regulation.</p>
<p>The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, enacted five years ago on Tuesday, was designed to improve accountability and transparency in the financial industry, end "too big to fail," and protect taxpayers and consumers.</p>
<p>Some elements of the law have yet to be fully realized &ndash; like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/goldmans-plan-to-take-over-commodities-is-working-2015-3">part of the controversial Volcker Rule</a> that prohibits banks from engaging in proprietary trading and investing in hedge funds and private equity firms.&nbsp;Other elements have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dodd-frank-regulation-tackled-in-dc-2015-1">already been repealed</a> in Congress.</p>
<p>But Frank is convinced that the heart of the law will stay intact for some time. He points to the lack of organized opposition from Republicans in Congress, versus more regular attacks on the Affordable Care Act.</p>
<p><span>"The Republicans voted against the financial reform bill as heavily as they voted against healthcare, but the financial reform is much more popular with the public," Frank said in an interview. "That&rsquo;s why they repeatedly move to repeal all of healthcare but they have never offered or had a vote on repealing all of financial reform."</span></p>
<p>Business Insider caught up with Frank to discuss financial reform, Wall Street, and how the 2016 presidential election will shape the industry. Here's a (lightly edited) transcript:</p>
<p><strong>Business Insider: The last time I heard you speak, you didn&rsquo;t sound completely opposed to amending or updating the law. Is that right?</strong></p>
<p>Barney Frank: I never have been. I never expected that everything we did &ndash; there were political compromises that had to be made. For example, I do believe that we should have put in some upgrades on that $50 billion [threshold for banks considered to be potentially systemically risky.] ... I&rsquo;m in favor of raising the $50 billion. To what number, I don&rsquo;t know ... I&rsquo;d want to have hearings and listen to what the implications would be.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/55ad43972acae7f4028b8256-3696-2772/rtr2gloa.jpg" alt="obama chris dodd barney frank" data-mce-source="Reuters" data-mce-caption="U.S. President Barack Obama points to co-sponsors of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act after signing it into law at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, July 21, 2010." /></p>
<p><strong>BI: Five years from now, will the act still exist in its current form? </strong></p>
<p>BF: I believe it will. The Republicans &ndash; it&rsquo;s an interesting contrast between the healthcare and this bill. The Republicans voted against the financial reform bill as heavily as they voted against healthcare, but the financial reform is much more popular with the public. That&rsquo;s why they repeatedly move to repeal all of healthcare but they have never offered or had a vote on repealing all of financial reform.</p>
<p>There have been a couple of the changes they&rsquo;ve proposed I don&rsquo;t like, but not nearly a wholesale repeal.</p>
<p>Even if you have a Republican president, House, and Senate, I suppose they will try to weaken some of it, but that&rsquo;ll be a tough fight because there&rsquo;s a lot of public opposition to weakening it.</p>
<p><strong>BI: What do you think Wall Street will look like in five years? Will it still be an attractive industry for bright young college students?</strong></p>
<p>BF: Oh for some, for sure. Probably not as many as before, but I think that&rsquo;s healthy. I think we had an over-emphasis ... Look, financial entities are a vital part of our economy and we never thought that it wasn&rsquo;t and we never tried to stop them from doing the things they were doing. We did argue they should do them in a more responsible way.</p>
<p>Our basic view was if they were able to take a lot of risks with selling credit default swaps or issuing residential mortgages and packaging them into securities, without having to stand behind those risks, without having the money to put up if the risks went bad... We never, the bill [never] told them what risks to take or not to take, only that they have to be responsible for them.</p>
<p>I think what you may see is a smaller set of activities in some areas. ... But there&rsquo;ll still be a very important role for the financial community in helping finance the economy.</p>
<p><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/55ad6473371d22dc0b8b72e7-2654-1990/gettyimages-463080646.jpg" alt="Lloyd Blankfein" data-mce-source="Joe Raedle/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein" /></p>
<p><strong>BI: Recently, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon became billionaires &ndash; something that could become a new trend for bank CEOs. Do you think that says something about the industry?</strong></p>
<p>BF: It does raise the question from the broader economic position about whether, the way they&rsquo;ve been structured, a larger percentage of the money goes to the people at the very top. But it also disproves the argument that somehow we&rsquo;ve passed a law that was crippling them ... I think it is restrictive of irresponsibility, but not of their basic function.</p>
<p><strong>BI: Let&rsquo;s talk about 2016 some more. Which candidate do you think would be the most dangerous for the American economy?</strong></p>
<p>BF: Oh I think any of the Republicans who are running now, because they&rsquo;re gonna be committed to go to the right, and I think they will be resisting efforts to do something about economic inequality which I think has both social and economic negative implications.</p>
<p>And the more they are likely to try and undermine this bill, the worse it will be. ... It looks to me like all the Republicans at this point are likely to do as much as they can to undermine it.</p>
<p><strong>BI: What are your thoughts on Donald Trump?</strong></p>
<p>BF: I never thought that we Democrats would be as lucky as we are to have him running for president as a Republican.</p>
<p><strong>BI: You have commended Elizabeth Warren for choosing not to run. Why?<em><br /></em></strong></p>
<p>BF: Absolutely ... I think it&rsquo;s very important for the Democrats to get behind Hillary Clinton. The Republicans have an overwhelming amount of money. I think, frankly, we have a certain advantage by getting behind one candidate, and I think Hillary Clinton has been a very solid liberal.</p>
<p>I think Elizabeth Warren correctly understands that a primary fight would not be helpful ... I also think from her standpoint she has a great deal of influence right now, because nobody can accuse her of being politically minded.</p>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/55ad44542acae719008b81de-2944-2208/rtx1cudp.jpg" alt="Elizabeth Warren" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst" data-link="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZ0GGQ01J&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1482&amp;RH=896#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZ0GGQ01J&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1482&amp;RH=896&amp;POPUPPN=21&amp;POPUPIID=2C0BF1OO68686" /></p>
<p><strong>BI: What do you think about her recent push to bring back Glass-Steagall?</strong></p>
<p>BF: Oh I disagree with her on that.</p>
<p><strong>BI: Why?<em><br /></em></strong></p>
<p>BF: Because Glass-Steagall is an 80-year-old law &hellip; It would not have prevented the crisis. I do think that we should be dealing with complexity, but I do not think that the fact that the banks do not do just commercial banking &ndash; I do not think that that, in and of itself, is a bad thing.</p>
<p><strong>BI: What about Bernie Sanders? He&rsquo;s seen a rise in popularity with a campaign blasting billionaires and millionaires. What does that say?</strong></p>
<p>BF: He reflects the fact that there&rsquo;s a lot of anger in the country over the fact that we have such income inequality that increased wealth has gone overwhelmingly to a very small percentage of the people ... I think, by the way, Hillary Clinton agrees with him on much of that.</p>
<p><strong>BI: The SCOTUS marriage ruling: What did you think? Was it a long time coming?</strong></p>
<p>BF: I&rsquo;m very happy with it ... We&rsquo;ve had same-sex marriage in Massachusetts for 11 years.</p>
<p>It hasn&rsquo;t had any negative effect. All these fears &ndash; nobody&rsquo;s been forced into anything they don&rsquo;t want to do. Certainly no religion has to have marriages they don&rsquo;t approve of, even when they aren&rsquo;t same-sex marriages. Catholic priests don&rsquo;t have to marry a divorced Catholic to somebody else.</p>
<p>So I think it was a good thing and I think people are going to see that it will make the lives of a lot of the people who choose to get married, and their families, better. And it will have zero effect on everybody else.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-new-reforms-2015-4" >Elizabeth Warren just laid out all the financial reforms she wants to push through</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/barney-frank-on-dodd-frank-5-years-later-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/little-known-facts-about-hillary-clinton-politics-democrats-republicans-bill-2015-5">11 little-known facts about Hillary Clinton</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/nydfs-sends-letter-to-symphony-over-messaging-product-2015-7The chat service out to kill Bloomberg is in regulators' crosshairshttp://www.businessinsider.com/nydfs-sends-letter-to-symphony-over-messaging-product-2015-7
Wed, 22 Jul 2015 14:17:38 -0400Matt Turner
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/55afdd72371d2232008b8ad4-1079-809/screen shot 2013-10-26 at 6.55.02 pm-1.png" alt="bloomberg terminal" data-mce-source="Margin Call" /></p><p>A new messaging service backed by some of the biggest names on Wall Street is attracting scrutiny from New York's regulators. <br /><br />The New York State Department of Financial Services is interested in the privacy features that lie at the heart of&nbsp;Symphony Communications&nbsp;Services' pitch as an alternative to Bloomberg's ubiquitous messaging&nbsp;system&nbsp;-- which is used by traders across Wall Street.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>Anthony J. Albanese, Acting Superintendent of Financial Services for the State of New York, has sent a letter to the chief executive of Symphony, asking for information about their instant messaging service. Symphony did not return calls or emails seeking comment in time for publication.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>The letter, which was released publicly, reads: "</span><span>Specific areas of interest for our Department include but are not limited to the data deletion,&nbsp;</span><span>end-to-end-encryption,&nbsp;</span><span>and open source</span><span>&nbsp;features of your products."</span></p>
<p><span>Symphony has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-acquires-symphony-2014-10">received backing</a> from the likes of Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup, and takes aim at Bloomberg's chat function. Rate-rigging investigations found that in many cases traders had used the chat function to collude in the setting of interest rates.</span></p>
<p><span>Part of the appeal is Symphony's offer of privacy. Chats are encrypted and only the client can unlock it.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span><span>Kevin McPartland, a principal with Greenwich Associates, told Business Insider earlier this year:&nbsp;</span></span>&ldquo;If it&rsquo;s acting like a &lsquo;virtual shredder&rsquo; then it&rsquo;s a problem.&rdquo;</p>
<p>"If it&rsquo;s intended to mask something; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-the-messaging-product-thats-out-to-crush-bloomberg-2015-6">that&rsquo;s concerning</a>."</p>
<p>A spokeswoman for Symphony said: "<span class="s1">Symphony is built on a foundation of security, compliance and privacy features that were built to enable our financial services and enterprise customers to meet their regulatory requirements. </span></p>
<p>"We look forward to explaining the various aspects of our communications platform to The New York Department of Financial Services.&rdquo;</p>
<p class="p2"><span>&nbsp;</span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nydfs-sends-letter-to-symphony-over-messaging-product-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/batman-arkham-knight-gameplay-video-2015-5">Here's the best look yet at the next big game starring Batman</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/jeb-bushs-plan-to-regulate-wall-street-2015-7Jeb Bush's plan to regulate Wall Street lobbying is unfair and utterly toothlesshttp://www.businessinsider.com/jeb-bushs-plan-to-regulate-wall-street-2015-7
Tue, 21 Jul 2015 17:23:02 -0400Jonathan Marino
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jeb-bush-government-spending-plan-2015-7"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/557f39c1ecad043c7da257cd-1200-924/ap730917246001-3.jpg" border="0" alt="AP730917246001">Jeb Bush wants </a>to keep Congress’ lawmakers out of lobbying gigs for six years after they leave Capitol Hill.</span></p>
<p>That’s three times as long as the law currently requires.</p>
<p>The problem with the proposal,&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">according to regulators and Wall Street pros alike, it that the legislation is unlikely to pass, and that it arguably targets the wrong constituency.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>Business Insider spoke with sources in Washington and on Wall Street to gauge how seriously Bush’s legislative pitch is being taken. The short answer: not very!</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">One legal expert says he’s not expecting Congress to do too much to curb its own pay after retirement (or being voted out of office by constituents). "Asking members of Congress to vote for restrictions on their conduct is like asking Bostonians to vote for restrictions on booing the New York Yankees,” he said. </span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The source did have some sympathy for the legislators, saying their career paths are limited after a stint on Capitol Hill.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"The members who have been there a long time generally have three post-Congress options. They can live on their personal wealth, they can become a commentator on a news network, or they can become a lobbyist," the legal expert says. "Some have the wealth, few have the talent to become a news commentator, but many have the talent to become a lobbyist."</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">A source at a big investment bank expressed doubts over whether the legislation would go anywhere on Capital Hill.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">“He’s got to get it through Congress,” the source said of the legislation Bush wants to pass. “It’s pretty thin.”</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">One regulatory source said that Bush’s proposal might not cover enough ground. One place this is very clear is at Promontory Financial Group, </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/this-consulting-firm-hires-powerful-people-and-sells-their-knowledge-back-to-wall-street-2015-6">a big recruiter of ex-legislators and regulators alike</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">. "[D.C pros] like Anita Dunn, Harold Ickes [and] David Plouffe are the most effective lobbyists,” our source added, "while members [of Congress] are more likely to wind up in positions like Harold Ford as a rainmaker, not a lobbyist.”</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The regulatory source added: "The staff are often more highly valued than the members [of Congress]. They know where all the bodies are buried."</span></li>
</ul><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jeb-bushs-plan-to-regulate-wall-street-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/map-shows-how-religion-spread-around-the-world-2015-6">This animated map shows how religion spread across the world</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/what-the-first-faa-approved-drone-delivery-means-for-the-future-of-drones-in-the-us-2015-7What the first FAA-approved drone delivery means for the future of drones in the UShttp://www.businessinsider.com/what-the-first-faa-approved-drone-delivery-means-for-the-future-of-drones-in-the-us-2015-7
Tue, 21 Jul 2015 15:00:00 -0400Jonathan Camhi
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5423e2dcecad04a60940f52b-1200-800/rtx16ayj.jpg" alt="DHL parcel delivery drone" border="0"></p><p>Australian startup&nbsp;<a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/52654c6e462018e2ea6db9fb2umwl.1ud/Va1P2MPo_FhNo_LFA2018" target="_blank">Flirtey</a>&nbsp;completed the first FAA-approved drone delivery in the US last week,&nbsp;<a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/52654c6e462018e2ea6db9fb2umwl.1ud/VatZB8PovjaR6j44Ab5cf" target="_blank">carrying</a>&nbsp;a package of medical supplies to a rural health clinic in Virginia. FAA regulations have until now banned such flights, but&nbsp;the FAA granted Flirtey an exemption for a joint venture it’s running with NASA and Virginia Tech university to deliver medical supplies&nbsp;to healthcare organizations in remote parts of the state.</p>
<p><em><span id="docs-internal-guid-eaae21d7-b0f9-8635-8104-20b48dd3bdb9">This story was originally sent to thousands of professionals in the Internet of things industry in this morning's IoT INSIDER newsletter. You can join them<strong><a href="http://bii_www.businessinsider.com/welcome/newsletters/?&amp;utm_source=House&amp;utm_term=CtgrPr_IOTI-first-drone-2015-7-21&amp;utm_campaign=CtgrPr_nlsa"> -- sign up for a RISK FREE trial now »</a></strong></span></em></p>
<p>Amazon and other companies have lobbied the FAA for more drone delivery exemptions, arguing that the current regulations are too strict. The regulations prohibit flying commercial drones beyond the line of sight of their pilot or operator.</p>
<p>The FAA is working on less stringent regulations for commercial drone flights that would allow drones to fly beyond their operators’ line of sight. Those&nbsp;new regulations could be finalized within a year, according to FAA officials testifying before Congress last month. Amazon has said that they will be ready to conduct drone deliveries as soon as the new regulations are enacted.&nbsp;</p>
<p>However, Flirtey’s delivery isn’t necessarily a sign that the FAA is ready to allow more drone deliveries.&nbsp;The FAA has consistently granted exemptions for drone uses that promote human health and safety, like inspecting parts of oil rigs that can be dangerous for humans to inspect. Flirtey’s delivery falls in line with this health and safety theme, and we expect that theme to drive more drone use cases in the short term than delivery of commercial products.</p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-eaae21d7-b0f7-e829-386f-ede53f181c33"><span>Here are other stories you need to know from today's IoT INSIDER:</span></span></p>
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<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">US CONSUMERS DON’T WANT FULLY AUTONOMOUS CARS</span></li>
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<p><em><span style="line-height: 22.5px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-eaae21d7-b0f9-5466-247a-a6382de920dc">Find this article interesting? You can get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Get the jump on your competitors.<strong><a href="http://bii_www.businessinsider.com/welcome/newsletters/?&amp;utm_source=House&amp;utm_term=CtgrPr_IOTI-first-drone-2015-7-21&amp;utm_campaign=CtgrPr_nlsa"> Try it RISK FREE now »</a></strong></span></span></em></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-the-first-faa-approved-drone-delivery-means-for-the-future-of-drones-in-the-us-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-on-dodd-frank-5-years-later-2015-7Elizabeth Warren says passing Dodd-Frank was like David beating Goliathhttp://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-on-dodd-frank-5-years-later-2015-7
Tue, 21 Jul 2015 12:45:00 -0400Portia Crowe
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/55ae6bf7371d2215008b8358-625-469/screen shot 2015-07-21 at 11.55.38 am.png" alt="Elizabeth Warren" data-mce-source="YouTube" data-link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3foBrqHVCOo&amp;feature=youtu.be" /></p><p>On the fifth anniversary of a landmark &ndash; and controversial &ndash; piece of financial regulation, one of the bill's defendants reflected on what it was like trying to pass the law.</p>
<p>Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) spoke about the Dodd-Frank financial reform act <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3foBrqHVCOo&amp;feature=youtu.be">in an interview</a> with Americans for Financial Reform, an advocacy group.</p>
<p>"David can beat Goliath&nbsp;&ndash; that&rsquo;s the meaning of Dodd-Frank," said the senator, who was a founding member of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, established under the act.</p>
<p>"We built Dodd-Frank with the biggest, most powerful institutions fighting us every inch of the way."</p>
<p>Dodd-Frank was designed to improve bank accountability and transparency, end "too big to fail," and protect taxpayers and consumers.</p>
<p>Some elements have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dodd-frank-regulation-tackled-in-dc-2015-1">already been repealed</a> in Congress. Others have yet to be fully realized &ndash; like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/goldmans-plan-to-take-over-commodities-is-working-2015-3">part of the controversial Volcker Rule</a> that prohibits banks from engaging in proprietary trading and investing in hedge funds and private equity firms.</p>
<p>Here are Warren's comments:</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3foBrqHVCOo"></iframe></p>
<p>Of course, critics of Dodd-Frank have also reflected on the law, five years on.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMRdrNUE6sM&amp;feature=youtu.be">Speaking at a hearing earlier this month</a>, Financial Services Committee chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) said, "Undoubtedly it is the most sweeping and dramatic rewrite of banking and capital markets laws since the New Deal."</p>
<p>He pointed to other potential problems that might arise in the wake of the Dodd-Frank law.</p>
<p>One concern he highlighted is the possibility that risky behavior will get pushed out to less-regulated institutions. Another is the growing sense of anxiety throughout the industry that heightened regulation has led to illiquidity in financial markets.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-and-stock-buybacks-2015-4" >The one issue Elizabeth Warren and some of Wall Street can agree on</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-on-dodd-frank-5-years-later-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/barack-obama-morning-routine-reggie-love-aide-president-2015-3">Here's how President Obama starts every morning</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/barney-frank-on-dodd-frank-5-years-later-2015-7BARNEY FRANK: Lloyd Blankfein's billionaire status 'disproves the argument' that regulation cripples Wall Streethttp://www.businessinsider.com/barney-frank-on-dodd-frank-5-years-later-2015-7
Tue, 21 Jul 2015 07:45:00 -0400Portia Crowe
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/55ad41102acae74c2f8b5b5e-3119-2339/rtxqb96.jpg" alt="Barney Frank" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst" data-link="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZ0GH56DE&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1482&amp;RH=867#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZ0GH56DE&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1482&amp;RH=867&amp;PN=3&amp;POPUPPN=140&amp;POPUPIID=2C0BF15PCQYK" /></p><p>Five years ago, former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) loaned his name to a law that would come to define post-crisis financial regulation.</p>
<p>The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, enacted five years ago on Tuesday, was designed to improve accountability and transparency in the financial industry, end "too big to fail," and protect taxpayers and consumers.</p>
<p>Some elements of the law have yet to be fully realized &mdash; like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/goldmans-plan-to-take-over-commodities-is-working-2015-3">part of the controversial Volcker Rule</a> that prohibits banks from engaging in proprietary trading and investing in hedge funds and private-equity firms. Other elements have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dodd-frank-regulation-tackled-in-dc-2015-1">already been repealed</a> in Congress.</p>
<p>But Frank is convinced that the heart of the law will stay intact for some time. He points to the lack of organized opposition from Republicans in Congress, versus more regular attacks on the Affordable Care Act.</p>
<p><span>"The Republicans voted against the financial reform bill as heavily as they voted against healthcare, but the financial reform is much more popular with the public," Frank said in an interview. "That&rsquo;s why they repeatedly move to repeal all of healthcare but they have never offered or had a vote on repealing all of financial reform."</span></p>
<p>Business Insider caught up with Frank to discuss financial reform, Wall Street, and how the 2016 presidential election will shape the industry. Here's a (lightly edited) transcript:</p>
<p><strong>Business Insider: The last time I heard you speak, you didn&rsquo;t sound completely opposed to amending or updating the law. Is that right?</strong></p>
<p>Barney Frank: I never have been. I never expected that everything we did &mdash; there were political compromises that had to be made. For example, I do believe that we should have put in some upgrades on that $50 billion [threshold for banks considered to be potentially systemically risky.] ... I&rsquo;m in favor of raising the $50 billion. To what number, I don&rsquo;t know ... I&rsquo;d want to have hearings and listen to what the implications would be.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/55ad43972acae7f4028b8256-3696-2772/rtr2gloa.jpg" alt="obama chris dodd barney frank" data-mce-source="Reuters" data-mce-caption="U.S. President Barack Obama points to co-sponsors of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act after signing it into law at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, July 21, 2010." /></p>
<p><strong>BI: Five years from now, will the act still exist in its current form? </strong></p>
<p>BF: I believe it will. The Republicans &mdash;&nbsp;it&rsquo;s an interesting contrast between the healthcare and this bill. The Republicans voted against the financial reform bill as heavily as they voted against healthcare, but the financial reform is much more popular with the public. That&rsquo;s why they repeatedly move to repeal all of healthcare but they have never offered or had a vote on repealing all of financial reform.</p>
<p>There have been a couple of the changes they&rsquo;ve proposed I don&rsquo;t like, but not nearly a wholesale repeal.</p>
<p>Even if you have a Republican president, House, and Senate, I suppose they will try to weaken some of it, but that&rsquo;ll be a tough fight because there&rsquo;s a lot of public opposition to weakening it.</p>
<p><strong>BI: What do you think Wall Street will look like in five years? Will it still be an attractive industry for bright young college students?</strong></p>
<p>BF: Oh for some, for sure. Probably not as many as before, but I think that&rsquo;s healthy. I think we had an overemphasis ... Look, financial entities are a vital part of our economy and we never thought that it wasn&rsquo;t and we never tried to stop them from doing the things they were doing. We did argue they should do them in a more responsible way.</p>
<p>Our basic view was if they were able to take a lot of risks with selling credit default swaps or issuing residential mortgages and packaging them into securities, without having to stand behind those risks, without having the money to put up if the risks went bad ... We never, the bill [never] told them what risks to take or not to take, only that they have to be responsible for them.</p>
<p>I think what you may see is a smaller set of activities in some areas. ... But there&rsquo;ll still be a very important role for the financial community in helping finance the economy.</p>
<p><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/55ad6473371d22dc0b8b72e7-2654-1990/gettyimages-463080646.jpg" alt="Lloyd Blankfein" data-mce-source="Joe Raedle/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein" /></p>
<p><strong>BI: Recently, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon became billionaires &mdash;&nbsp;something that could become a new trend for bank CEOs. Do you think that says something about the industry?</strong></p>
<p>BF: It does raise the question from the broader economic position about whether, the way they&rsquo;ve been structured, a larger percentage of the money goes to the people at the very top. But it also disproves the argument that somehow we&rsquo;ve passed a law that was crippling them ... I think it is restrictive of irresponsibility, but not of their basic function.</p>
<p><strong>BI: Let&rsquo;s talk about 2016 some more. Which candidate do you think would be the most dangerous for the American economy?</strong></p>
<p>BF: Oh I think any of the Republicans who are running now, because they&rsquo;re gonna be committed to go to the right, and I think they will be resisting efforts to do something about economic inequality, which I think has both social and economic negative implications.</p>
<p>And the more they are likely to try and undermine this bill, the worse it will be. ... It looks to me like all the Republicans at this point are likely to do as much as they can to undermine it.</p>
<p><strong>BI: What are your thoughts on Donald Trump?</strong></p>
<p>BF: I never thought that we Democrats would be as lucky as we are to have him running for president as a Republican.</p>
<p><strong>BI: You have commended Elizabeth Warren for choosing not to run. Why?<em><br /></em></strong></p>
<p>BF: Absolutely ... I think it&rsquo;s very important for the Democrats to get behind Hillary Clinton. The Republicans have an overwhelming amount of money. I think, frankly, we have a certain advantage by getting behind one candidate, and I think Hillary Clinton has been a very solid liberal.</p>
<p>I think Elizabeth Warren correctly understands that a primary fight would not be helpful ... I also think from her standpoint she has a great deal of influence right now, because nobody can accuse her of being politically minded.</p>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/55ad44542acae719008b81de-2944-2208/rtx1cudp.jpg" alt="Elizabeth Warren" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst" data-link="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZ0GGQ01J&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1482&amp;RH=896#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZ0GGQ01J&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1482&amp;RH=896&amp;POPUPPN=21&amp;POPUPIID=2C0BF1OO68686" /></p>
<p><strong>BI: What do you think about her recent push to bring back Glass-Steagall?</strong></p>
<p>BF: Oh I disagree with her on that.</p>
<p><strong>BI: Why?<em><br /></em></strong></p>
<p>BF: Because Glass-Steagall is an 80-year-old law &hellip; It would not have prevented the crisis. I do think that we should be dealing with complexity, but I do not think that the fact that the banks do not do just commercial banking &mdash;&nbsp;I do not think that that, in and of itself, is a bad thing.</p>
<p><strong>BI: What about Bernie Sanders? He&rsquo;s seen a rise in popularity with a campaign blasting billionaires and millionaires. What does that say?</strong></p>
<p>BF: He reflects the fact that there&rsquo;s a lot of anger in the country over the fact that we have such income inequality that increased wealth has gone overwhelmingly to a very small percentage of the people ... I think, by the way, Hillary Clinton agrees with him on much of that.</p>
<p><strong>BI: The SCOTUS marriage ruling: What did you think? Was it a long time coming?</strong></p>
<p>BF: I&rsquo;m very happy with it ... We&rsquo;ve had same-sex marriage in Massachusetts for 11 years.</p>
<p>It hasn&rsquo;t had any negative effect. All these fears &mdash;&nbsp;nobody&rsquo;s been forced into anything they don&rsquo;t want to do. Certainly no religion has to have marriages they don&rsquo;t approve of, even when they aren&rsquo;t same-sex marriages. Catholic priests don&rsquo;t have to marry a divorced Catholic to somebody else.</p>
<p>So I think it was a good thing and I think people are going to see that it will make the lives of a lot of the people who choose to get married, and their families, better. And it will have zero effect on everybody else.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-new-reforms-2015-4" >Elizabeth Warren just laid out all the financial reforms she wants to push through</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/barney-frank-on-dodd-frank-5-years-later-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/little-known-facts-about-hillary-clinton-politics-democrats-republicans-bill-2015-5">11 little-known facts about Hillary Clinton</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/house-republicans-want-to-strip-the-new-york-fed-of-a-crucial-power-2015-7House Republicans want to strip the New York Fed of a crucial powerhttp://www.businessinsider.com/house-republicans-want-to-strip-the-new-york-fed-of-a-crucial-power-2015-7
Fri, 17 Jul 2015 13:17:38 -0400Jonathan Marino
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/55a91e132acae78b0e8b775b-696-522/fed-watching-recent-weakness-rates-hike-timing-unclear---dudley-2015-4.jpg" alt="File photo of William Dudley, President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, at Brooklyn College in the Brooklyn borough of New York, March 7, 2014. REUTERS/Keith Bedford " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="William Dudley, President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, speaks at Brooklyn College in the Brooklyn borough of New York" /></p><p>A Republican Congressman&nbsp;wants to strip the Federal Reserve Bank of New York of one of its key powers, and it&nbsp;could have a big impact on when and how the Fed makes its next rate decision.</p>
<p><a href="http://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=399372">Next Wednesday</a>, in the House Financial Services Committee Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee hearing on Federal Reserve reform, it is expected Michigan Republican&nbsp;Bill Huizenga will pitch legislation to kill&nbsp;the 'permanent' status granted to the New York Fed on the&nbsp;Federal Reserve System's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).&nbsp;</p>
<p>In short, it will remove a key distinction that sets the New York Fed apart from other banks: The NY Fed president always has FOMC representation.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Each of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors is a member of the FOMC, along with a rotating group of presidents of regional Federal Reserve Banks. The only exception is New York and its president, William Dudley.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The FOMC is the Fed committee that makes key monetary policy and regulatory recommendations within&nbsp;Federal Reserve System. Presidents of the other eleven&nbsp;Federal Reserve banks rotate in and out of the remaining four FOMC slots. And for&nbsp;some, the New York Fed's elevated status within the FOMC has been a source of frustration.</p>
<p>If House Republicans are successful, the<a href="http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomc.htm"> New York Fed's&nbsp;presence</a>&nbsp;and power on the FOMC could be substantially diminished.</p>
<p>Huizenga is <a href="http://financialservices.house.gov/114th-congress-subcommittees/114th-monetary-policy-and-trade.htm">chairman of the subcommittee</a> that will discuss Federal Reserve reform next Wednesday.&nbsp;Because the FOMC makes the decision on when to raise interest rates, the potential&nbsp;legislation comes at a crucial time.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The&nbsp;legislation being considered by Huizenga could&nbsp;make New York&nbsp;split the 'permanent' seat with another city's central bank president, one source told Business Insider.</p>
<p>A second source said that another possibility for the legislation would include giving every Federal Reserve Bank president an equal opportunity to sit alongside the Federal Reserve Board of Governors that make up the FOMC.</p>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/55a9381c2acae7b7188b7689-3500-1750/rtr4v74z.jpg" alt="janet yellen" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Robert Galbraith" data-mce-caption="U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen arrives for a luncheon at the Federal Reserve in San Francisco, California March 27, 2015. " />The potential legislation to alter the FOMC is part of an ongoing escalation of rhetoric among&nbsp;House Republicans who have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-audit-push-challenges-federal-reserves-independence-2015-2">pushed the central bank to become increasingly transparent</a>.</p>
<p>However, the entire party is not lining up behind the legislation now&nbsp;being considered.&nbsp;New York Republican Peter King sits on the House Financial Services Committee and said he would oppose legislation to remove the New York Federal Reserve from the FOMC.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"New York carries the country's monetary policy and executes open-market operations on a daily basis," King&nbsp;said to Business Insider on Friday through a spokesman. "I will not support any legislation that attempts to do this and hope as the legislative process continues, common sense will prevail."&nbsp;</p>
<p>For some, the legislation might not sound new. That's because it isn't, technically.</p>
<p>Richard Fisher is the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and he has <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-09/new-york-fed-makeover-gets-little-support-among-fed-bank-chiefs">previously called upon the Fed to strip</a> the New York branch of its permanent FOMC status, including in his retirement speech earlier this year.</p>
<p>Fisher believes votes should be distributed evenly so that New York is given equal input with other US cities' Federal Reserve Banks, like Chicago and Cleveland. The Federal Reserve has so far resisted Fisher's calls for change.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Federal Reserve Bank of New York declined to comment. Business Insider also reached out to Huizenga's office and other GOP lawmakers that sit on the House&nbsp;<span>Financial Services Committee Monetary Policy Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade. None responded&nbsp;by publication time.&nbsp;</span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/house-republicans-want-to-strip-the-new-york-fed-of-a-crucial-power-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/slacking-red-bull-backflip-sport-baylines-2015-6">People doing backflips on a two-inch wide strap is a real sport called slacklining</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/underground-drones-race-over-90-mph-2015-7Watch these drones race underground at speeds over 90 mphhttp://www.businessinsider.com/underground-drones-race-over-90-mph-2015-7
Tue, 14 Jul 2015 15:53:36 -0400Grace Raver
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<p class="embed-spacer"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The underground drone racing scene is growing in Australia — here's an epic point-of-view perspective of these 90 mph races. </span></p>
<p><em>Produced by Grace Raver. Video Courtesy of Caters TV and Associated Press. </em></p>
<p><strong>Follow TI Video:</strong> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/techinsider" target="_blank">On Facebook</a></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/underground-drones-race-over-90-mph-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/antonio-weiss-op-ed-defending-bank-regulation-2015-7The ex-Wall Streeter Elizabeth Warren bulldozed out of a top spot at the Treasury defended Dodd-Frank in the WSJhttp://www.businessinsider.com/antonio-weiss-op-ed-defending-bank-regulation-2015-7
Mon, 13 Jul 2015 09:51:00 -0400Portia Crowe
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/535aada26bb3f7032c505e1a-1200-924/elizabeth-warren-27.jpg" alt="elizabeth warren" border="0"></p><p>Late last year, Elizabeth Warren fought hard to prevent Antonio Weiss, an ex-Lazard banker, from taking a top position at the Treasury, claiming he was yet <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-oped-treasury-2014-11">another Wall Streeter passing through the revolving door with Washington</a>, and would inevitably damage financial regulation to the benefit of the big banks.</p>
<p>She won that battle: Weiss ended up <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-wins-the-treasury-loses-2015-1">declining the position</a> and taking role as counselor to the Treasury secretary instead.</p>
<p>Now, Weiss has come out swinging in <em>defense</em> of financial regulation, with an <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/regulatory-rollback-is-wrong-for-financial-markets-1436739717">op-ed written in The Wall Street Journal</a>.</p>
<p>"It is neither possible nor prudent to return to practices that were prevalent prior to the crisis," he wrote.</p>
<p>He pointed to a growing concern in financial markets about <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/howard-marks-liquidity-definition-2015-3">liquidity</a>, and the increasingly prevalent theory that it has been "killed" by regulations, which ought to be repealed.</p>
<p>"The reality is not so simple, and that prescription is dangerous," he wrote.</p>
<p>This month marks the fifth anniversary of the Dodd-Frank financial regulation act, which was designed to change the rules of the game on Wall Street, reduce risk-taking, and prevent a similar crisis from ever occurring again.</p>
<p>The law has been controversial from the outset.</p>
<p>It has already seen a number of amendments, and a push in Congress to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dodd-frank-regulation-tackled-in-dc-2015-1">tweak the most controversial part of the act, the Volcker Rule</a>, and allow banks to trade potentially risky derivatives rather than "pushing out" that business to subsidiaries and other affiliates that aren't underwritten by the government.</p>
<p>Many believe that more needs to be done to roll back regulation&nbsp;– like <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/12/column-seccftc-idUSL1N0ZP29520150712">these SEC and CFTC commissioners</a> who, despite working at two major regulatory bodies, wrote a scathing column for Reuters about regulators and their "lack of forethought and market knowledge."</p>
<p>They claim the regulators are <em>contributing</em> to market risk.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Antonio Weiss over at the Treasury says "Our focus, in both the private and public sectors, should be on adapting to the dynamics of the new marketplace, not on returning to a past whose rules can’t reasonably apply to us now."</p>
<p>"Only a financial system strong enough to withstand a major financial shock is capable of promoting sustainable economic growth," he wrote.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/regulatory-rollback-is-wrong-for-financial-markets-1436739717">Read the full op-ed in The Wall Street Journal»</a></strong></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/antonio-weiss-op-ed-defending-bank-regulation-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/krugman-fed-should-wait-2014-9">KRUGMAN: Wall Street Is Wrong, Janet Yellen Is Making Exactly The Right Move On Inflation</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/investment-banks-2015-living-wills-2015-7This is what will happen to Wall Street's biggest banks if they 'die'http://www.businessinsider.com/investment-banks-2015-living-wills-2015-7
Sat, 11 Jul 2015 15:57:00 -0400Portia Crowe
<p>This month marks the fifth anniversary of the Dodd-Frank financial regulation act that, for better or worse, will most likely change the way Wall Street operates forever.</p>
<p>Part of that legislation requires banks to write their own "wills" — that is, the steps they would take in the event of a bankruptcy or a major financial upset.</p>
<p>Basically, regulators such as the FDIC and the Federal Reserve want the banks to be prepared to dismantle themselves without damaging the financial system if there's another financial crisis.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/investment-banks-2015-living-wills-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/omaha-steaks-unboxed-mail-order-2015-5">Here's what you get when you order 'Omaha Steaks' in the mail</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/investment-banks-2015-living-wills-2015-7This is what will happen to Wall Street's biggest banks if they 'die'http://www.businessinsider.com/investment-banks-2015-living-wills-2015-7
Wed, 08 Jul 2015 09:03:00 -0400Portia Crowe
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/559c40f6eab8ea290b5ff6d7-1105-829/lloyd-blankfein-goldman-sachs-2.png" alt="lloyd blankfein goldman sachs" border="0"></p><p>This month marks the fifth anniversary of the Dodd-Frank financial regulation act that, for better or worse, will most likely change the way Wall Street operates forever.</p>
<p>Part of that legislation requires banks to write their own "wills" — that is, the steps they would take in the event of a bankruptcy or a major financial upset.</p>
<p>Basically, regulators such as the FDIC and the Federal Reserve want the banks to be prepared to dismantle themselves without damaging the financial system if there's another financial crisis.</p>
<p>Banks have been doing this for a few years now, but it's not often taken very seriously. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/regulators-say-megabanks-living-wills-are-unrealistic-2014-8">Last year, the regulators were extremely unimpressed with the banks' wills</a> and threatened a forced restructuring if they didn't make "significant progress" this year.</p>
<p>Twelve major banks <a href="http://www.federalreserve.gov/bankinforeg/resolution-plans.htm">reported their wills</a> this year, but it could be months before regulators decide whether the plans are acceptable.</p>
<p>Some of them are more detailed than others. As <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/cae01bfc-2427-11e5-bd83-71cb60e8f08c.html?siteedition=intl#axzz3fA9XVsUq">the Financial Times' Barney Jopson and Ben McLannahan note</a>, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo all expected to survive a crisis, albeit with stripped-down businesses, while Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs would essentially "cease to exist."</p>
<p>That's a pretty unimaginable scenario for a Wall Street king like Goldman Sachs. It's so unbelievable, in fact, that we wonder whether the bank execs believe it could happen either.</p>
<p>Regardless, here are the highlights from the living wills:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.federalreserve.gov/bankinforeg/resolution-plans/jpmorgan-chase-1g-20150701.pdf">JPMorgan Chase</a></p>
<ul>
<li>The main bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., would remain "open, funded, capitalized, and operating" but would shrink in size by one-third.</li>
<li>Broker-dealer subsidies would also remain open but would shrink by two-thirds.</li>
<li>J.P. Morgan Ventures Energy Corporation would be liquidated.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.federalreserve.gov/bankinforeg/resolution-plans/boa-1g-20150701.pdf">Bank of America</a></p>
<ul>
<li>The bank would still provide clients in the corporate, commercial, and retail divisions with banking products and services.</li>
<li>The global markets, or trading, division would be wound down or sold.</li>
<li>Loan and deposit portfolios would shrink.</li>
<li>Consumer banking and global wealth and investment management would remain "core" businesses.</li>
<li>Overall, the company would shrink in size from $2.1 trillion to about $1.2 trillion.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.federalreserve.gov/bankinforeg/resolution-plans/wells-fargo-2g-20150701.pdf">Wells Fargo</a></p>
<ul>
<li>The "surviving bank" would not wind down any particular subsidiaries or divisions, but rather shrink the entire institution to 30% of its current size.</li>
<li>The bank would keep retail checking and savings accounts, payment services, credit cards, mortgage lending, and commercial lending — but it would discontinue retail brokerage products and services.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.federalreserve.gov/bankinforeg/resolution-plans/citigroup-1g-20150701.pdf">Citigroup</a></p>
<ul>
<li>Citigroup Parent would enter into bankruptcy proceedings.</li>
<li>Broker-dealer entities would be wound down.</li>
<li>Banking businesses would be "divested through a series of M&amp;A transactions and initial public offerings, as well as asset sales."</li>
<li>Each business segment would follow the same path and wind up "significantly smaller and less systemically important than Citi."</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.federalreserve.gov/bankinforeg/resolution-plans/morgan-stanley-1g-20150701.pdf">Morgan Stanley</a></p>
<ul>
<li>Morgan Stanley, too, would enter bankruptcy proceedings.</li>
<li>While the parent company entered into insolvency proceedings, it would wind down or sell off subsidiaries, including the wealth-management division and the institutional securities businesses.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.federalreserve.gov/bankinforeg/resolution-plans/goldman-sachs-1g-20150701.pdf">Goldman Sachs</a></p>
<ul>
<li>During bankruptcy proceedings, Goldman Sachs would sell off and wind down assets in an "orderly manner."</li>
<li>"At the conclusion of the resolution of GS Group, the firm would have sold or unwound all of its assets, and third-party creditors of our material entities, other than parent-company stakeholders, would have been repaid in full."</li>
</ul><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/when-leon-cooperman-knows-to-sell-a-stock-2015-7" >The 4 reasons to dump a stock, according to multibillionaire Leon Cooperman</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/investment-banks-2015-living-wills-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-time-capsule-1914-2014-10">Here's What They Found Inside A Forgotten Wall Street Time Capsule</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/assisted-reproduction-ivf-industry-regulation-2015-6A booming medical industry in the US is almost totally unregulatedhttp://www.businessinsider.com/assisted-reproduction-ivf-industry-regulation-2015-6
Tue, 07 Jul 2015 15:50:00 -0400Ellie Kincaid
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5582cfbdf7b10522008b58a2-1024-810/ivf egg.jpg" border="0" alt="IVF egg" data-mce-source="Flickr/ZEISS Microscopy" data-mce-caption="An egg cell getting fertilized by sperm in vitro." data-link="https://www.flickr.com/photos/zeissmicro/6908944281/in/photolist-bww9qZ-6hmoWQ-4bBn1x-65djJi-f1fTLP-4FM6ps-dQdBV2-dQdAPP-edNM2K-eSzgKY-bskNxs-f6HNa3-ar7gmB-ar9Rt3-atpFKj-ar7gmM-ara191-eiMm1j-ar7gmx-ar7gmt-ar7gmH-ar7gmD-fbYJuy-ar9Rt5-ar9Rtu-ar9Rtj-ar9Rt9-ara193-ara18Y-ara199-ara19b-ara195-7RVoeu-dhby3F-9ZL6NH-bJtFDK-cq3f3S-9RM2iv-gTiS9v-9RQsr9-6sWA5Z-c9X8y-4ZAnqG-feCjoi-9wsUQe-mNbePH-kDmEeX-kDgkCh-regoaR-rg1jGC"></p><p>More American children conceived through in vitro fertilization were born in 2013 than ever before, an estimated 1.5% of all births, according to data from the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/art/reports/index.html">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>. And most of those procedures were done with&nbsp;little oversight.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The number of IVF cycles done in the United States <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/art/pdf/2012-report/national-summary/section05-question-01-national-summary-report.pdf">increased by 28%</a> from 2003 to 2012, and that&nbsp;rising trend has spiked in recent years. Based on preliminary data, the number of IVF cycles increased by 21% in just one year, from&nbsp;2012 to&nbsp;2013.&nbsp;</p>
<p>IVF is a procedure in which eggs are taken from a woman's ovaries and fertilized with sperm in a petri dish. Then one or more fertilized embryos are placed in the woman's uterus, where one will hopefully implant and grow into a baby.</p>
<p>The CDC collects and publishes data about IVF, as required by the Fertility Clinic Success Rate and Certification Act passed in 1992, but <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/art/nas/index.html">not all clinics report their data to the CDC</a>, only limited data about IVF outcomes are reported, and there are no official guidelines limiting which&nbsp;procedures can be done.</p>
<p>This level of government oversight leaves the industry to regulate itself for the most part, deciding on its own what procedures are appropriate to perform for patients.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>What self-regulation looks like</h2>
<p>The professional organizations for fertility clinics and doctors, the <a href="http://www.sart.org/">Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology</a> (SART) and the <a href="https://www.asrm.org/?vs=1">American Society for Reproductive Medicine</a> (ASRM), are the closest thing the field has to regulators.</p>
<p>Every clinic that performs IVF is invited to belong to SART, <a href="http://medicine.yale.edu/obgyn/people/pasquale_patrizio-1.profile">Dr. Pasquale Patrizio</a> of the Yale School of Medicine's fertility center told Business Insider. Over 90% of fertility clinics are members, according to the <a href="http://www.sart.org/What_is_SART/">organization's website</a>. To remain&nbsp;in good standing with SART, clinics must report data about the procedures they do and follow the recommendations it issues.</p>
<p>SART collects information about why patients sought infertility treatments, whether the eggs or embryos used in IVF were donated or frozen, whether certain procedures were used beyond traditional IVF (like <a href="http://www.reproductivefacts.org/uploadedFiles/ASRM_Content/Resources/Patient_Resources/Fact_Sheets_and_Info_Booklets/ICSI-Fact.pdf">intracytoplasmic sperm injection</a>, when scientists insert sperm into an egg to fertilize it instead of mixing&nbsp;them in a petri dish),&nbsp;how many embryos were transferred per IVF cycle, the percentage of cycles that resulted in pregnancies and live births, and the percentage of births that were twins or multiples.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/556796e969bedd2e4c5c4269-1200-924/sperm-bank-frozen-fertility-clinic-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Sperm Bank Frozen Fertility Clinic ">SART makes this data from individual clinics available <a href="http://www.sart.org/find_frm.html">online</a>, along with national averages.</p>
<p>Practice committees for the ASRM and SART write <a href="http://www.sart.org/Guidelines/">reports and opinions</a> on various aspects of assisted reproduction, like what new procedures, treatments, or knowledge are emerging and when they should be applied.</p>
<p>For example, the practice committees have recommendations in place for how many embryos should be transferred per cycle depending on the age of the woman doing IVF, based on their own collected data and other scientific publications.</p>
<p>Doctors, however, are not obliged to follow these recommendations. New procedures do not have to be approved before they can be performed in clinics.</p>
<p>For clinics that belong to SART, "somebody is watching over your shoulder," Patrizio told Business Insider. Plus, labs that deal with human eggs, sperm, and embryos are subject to Food and Drug Administration oversight, like other labs that work with human tissue&nbsp;—&nbsp;but only in that they must comply with&nbsp;measures to prevent the spread of disease.</p>
<p>To that end, the FDA <a href="http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?CFRPart=1271&amp;showFR=1&amp;subpartNode=21:8.0.1.5.57.3">requires prospective egg and sperm donors to be tested</a> for HIV, Hepatitis B and C, chlamydia, and gonorrhea, and for stored embryos, eggs, and sperm&nbsp;to be <a href="http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/ComplianceActivities/Enforcement/CompliancePrograms/ucm095207.htm#h">labeled</a>&nbsp;so they don't get mixed up.&nbsp;The FDA&nbsp;has&nbsp;the power to <a href="http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/ComplianceActivities/Enforcement/CompliancePrograms/ucm095207.htm#h">inspect</a> and shut down labs&nbsp;if they&nbsp;don't meet the legal requirements. As&nbsp;with other areas of medicine, the agency&nbsp;regulates the <a href="http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/">drugs and devices</a> used in assisted reproduction treatments, but <a href="http://www.rhtp.org/fertility/regulations/default.asp">not&nbsp;the actual procedures</a>&nbsp;clinics do.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Clinics do have incentive to provide quality service to patients and stay in good standing with SART to maintain their reputations and avoid malpractice suits, but doing anything the organization recommends is completely voluntary.&nbsp;If clinics don't comply with SART guidelines about procedures, they receive a letter from the organization, Patrizio said.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5565e23f6bb3f7e824341649-945-712/art outcomes 2012.png" border="0" alt="ART outcomes 2012" data-mce-source="CDC" data-mce-caption="About 36% of IVF cycles resulted in pregnancy, but not all of those women delivered live babies. " data-link="http://www.cdc.gov/art/pdf/2012-report/art_2012_graphs_and_charts_final.pdf"></p>
<h2>How we got here</h2>
<p>The reason the US doesn't have government oversight of the assisted reproduction industry <a href="http://www.hfea.gov.uk/index.html">like the UK does</a> is because of our <a href="http://www.bedfordresearch.org/the-history-of-the-dickey-wicker-amendment/">history</a>, <a href="http://www.bu.edu/sph/profile/george-annas/">George Annas</a>, a bioethicist and health lawyer at Boston University and author of "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Genomic-Messages-Evolving-Genetics-Families-ebook/dp/B00O10XQXI">Genomic Messages</a>," told Business Insider.</p>
<p>Historically, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickey-Wicker_Amendment">it's been illegal</a> for the National Institutes of Health to fund research on human embryos. (A ban&nbsp;in place since the late 1990s has softened somewhat <a href="http://stemcells.nih.gov/policy/pages/2009guidelines.aspx">under the Obama Administration</a>.) Without government money for research, IVF was developed in private clinics where the focus was on providing services to patients, not doing research first.</p>
<p>Now the&nbsp;industry decides itself what new procedures can be done on patients, which is "pretty unique," according to Annas.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"It's pretty loose out there," he said.</p>
<h2>Where that leaves us</h2>
<p>So what does this mean for the thousands who get assisted reproduction treatments in the US every year?</p>
<p>It means that fertility clinics can offer treatments to patients for purposes that ASRM and SART have not approved, with no clear repercussions.</p>
<p>For an example, look no further than elective egg freezing. The <a href="https://www.asrm.org/uploadedFiles/ASRM_Content/News_and_Publications/Practice_Guidelines/Committee_Opinions/Ovarian_tissue_and_oocyte(1).pdf">ASRM and SART practice committees</a> only announced egg freezing isn't an experimental procedure anymore in 2013, and they still don't recommend it for women who are healthy and fertile but want to delay having kids until they might have more difficulty getting pregnant. They only recommend egg freezing&nbsp;for women who face the prospect of infertility&nbsp;because they need&nbsp;chemotherapy or another essential treatment that damages the ovaries.&nbsp;</p>
<p>But that published guideline <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/one-of-the-hottest-new-health-benefits-in-silicon-valley-is-based-on-shaky-science-2015-6">isn't stopping clinics</a> from offering the procedure to women on an elective basis, and they were doing so even before the experimental label was lifted, Miriam Zoll, whose memoir "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cracked-Open-Liberty-Fertility-Pursuit/dp/1566569230">Cracked Open: Liberty, Fertility, and the Pursuit of High-Tech Babies</a>" is about her experience trying to conceive through assisted reproduction, told Business Insider.</p>
<p>"To only have the industry monitoring itself is not necessarily proving to be the best case scenario for the health of women and children," she said.</p>
<p>It's good that the assisted fertility industry does have some oversight and guidance from professional organizations, with leeway for doctors to make decisions based on the particular needs of individual patients, but there are significant questions about whether that <em>some</em> is enough.</p><p><strong>UP NEXT:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/one-of-the-hottest-new-health-benefits-in-silicon-valley-is-based-on-shaky-science-2015-6" >One of the hottest new health benefits in Silicon Valley is based on shaky science</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/in-vitro-fertilization-ivf-success-rates-2015-5" >The success rates of 'test tube babies' are nowhere near what people think</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/assisted-reproduction-ivf-industry-regulation-2015-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jurassic-world-movie-uses-bad-science-jurassic-park-2015-6">5 science facts 'Jurassic World' totally ignored</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/has-ubers-dominance-finally-reached-decline-2015-6We want to know whether Uber can survive if it has to play by the ruleshttp://www.businessinsider.com/has-ubers-dominance-finally-reached-decline-2015-6
Tue, 23 Jun 2015 14:54:00 -0400Richard Read
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5589869769beddc443f67822-1200-924/uber-protest-29.jpg" border="0" alt="Uber Protest"></p><p>This was not a good week for Uber.</p>
<p>In California, we learned that the start-up sweetheart of America's urban go-getters has been slapped with a p<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-and-lyft-employee-lawsuits-could-change-business-models-2015-6">otentially damning ruling</a>.</p>
<p>And on the other side of the continent, it was revealed that New York City has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/496-uber-cars-seized-by-new-york-city-authorities-2015-6">impounded nearly 500 Uber cars</a> for picking up street fares.</p>
<p>Which raises many important questions, but the most important is: can Uber survive if it has to play by the rules?</p>
<h2>DRIVERS ARE EMPLOYEES, UBER IS NOT A TAXI</h2>
<p>On Tuesday, the public learned about <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-and-lyft-employee-lawsuits-could-change-business-models-2015-6">a ruling from the California Labor Commission</a>, which determined that Uber drivers are, in fact, employees, not contractors. (The state of Florida found similarly in a separate case.) The ruling was handed down on June 3, but wasn't made public until Uber filed an appeal earlier this week.</p>
<p>The case was rooted in a claim filed by an Uber driver, who sought the recovery of about $4,000 in expenses related to the driver's work. Uber refused to pay the sum, insisting that its drivers are contractors, so they're responsible for vehicle maintenance, fuel, and other costs. If, however, the CLC's ruling stands, Uber could be required to pay for those expenses itself -- not to mention Social Security, workers' compensation, and other items. That could take a real bite out of Uber's bottom line.</p>
<p>Time and again, Uber has described itself as a humble, neutral network that allows individuals who meet certain requirements to register as drivers and pick up fares. In California, the CLC disagreed, arguing that Uber has a great deal of control over its drivers and the equipment they use, and that the company frequently terminates workers if they fail to meet high customer satisfaction standards.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in New York City, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/496-uber-cars-seized-by-new-york-city-authorities-2015-6">some 496 Uber cars were impounded</a> between April 29 and June 15 for picking up fares off the street. In New York and elsewhere, cabs employed by companies monitored by the Taxi and Limousine Commission are the only ones licensed to respond to street hails. Uber drivers can only pick up passengers who've pre-arranged trips.</p>
<h2>THE END OF THE RIDE?</h2>
<p>These two incidents are just the latest problems for Uber, which has faced growing criticism in recent years. In Europe, cab drivers have united and laws have been passed to maintain the taxi status quo. Closer to home, the company has had to deal with increased public scrutiny in the wake of pedestrian deaths, sexual assault charges, and its harshly criticized surge pricing policy.</p>
<p>But as serious as those issues are, the ruling in San Francisco could have a far more damaging effect on Uber's future. That's because it represents policy reversal in California, where in 2012, the same CLC found Uber drivers to be contractors, not employees.</p>
<p>This time around, the CLC took a step back and considered the case from a broader perspective. If the new ruling stands, it could slash Uber's profit margin in California, and it could cause other states to re-evaluate their own thoughts about the company.</p>
<p>It's unlikely that Uber would simply eat the costs associated with being a true employer. It would pass them on to drivers and, ultimately, consumers. That, in turn, would jack up the price of Uber rides, giving traditional cabs a serious advantage. And there goes Uber.</p>
<p>Stay tuned.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ubers-chinese-rival-didi-kuaidi-is-raising-15-billion-2015-6" >Uber's top Chinese rival is raising $1.5 billion</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/has-ubers-dominance-finally-reached-decline-2015-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-versus-taxi-california-2015-6">Is Uber really cheaper than a taxi?</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-san-francisco-regulations-2015-6Airbnb goes on charm offensive as it faces increased San Francisco regulationhttp://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-san-francisco-regulations-2015-6
Thu, 18 Jun 2015 18:43:00 -0400Biz Carson
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/558343986da8110b480aa3af-600-/sf-airbnb-ad.png" border="0" alt="SF airbnb ad" width="600"></span>Last time Airbnb launched an ad campaign as it was facing regulation, it didn't go so well.</p>
<p>The company's ads in New York City ended up <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3033191/most-innovative-companies/fuck-you-airbnb-what-some-new-yorkers-really-think-about-the-compa">being defaced in subways</a>, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-poster-child-once-evicted-2014-10">one of the Airbnb ad "stars" was evicted</a> after her landlord found out she was listing rooms on the platform.</p>
<p>This time, though, Airbnb is focusing on the money and what it's doing for the city.</p>
<p>The ads are cute and heartwarming.</p>
<p>Older San Francisco residents and small businesses talk about how they rely on Airbnb income to stay in the city, which has the highest rent in the nation.</p>
<p>Rodolfo and Karen Cancino thanked Airbnb for keeping them in the house they got married in 39 years ago.</p>
<p>Bar owners in the Mission neighborhood, which is ground zero for a lot of San Francisco's housing trouble, praised Airbnb for giving tourists a place to stay since the area doesn't have any hotels.</p>
<div><div>
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/oIOGH74IfeY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></div>
<p>While the videos may make me want to hug Rodolfo and Karen, the billboards focus on the economics and offer some pretty staggering stats about the money flowing into the city because of Airbnb:</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/558332d9eab8ea1a11429911-2700-787/sf-political-campaign-billboards-spec1066-mt-061515_r2.jpg" border="0" alt="Airbnb billboards in San Francisco"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/558332daecad04f37c0aa3ae-2700-787/sf-political-campaign-billboards-mt-061015_r4.jpg" border="0" alt="Airbnb billboards in San Francisco"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/558332d9eab8ea2814429911-1168-545/screen%20shot%202015-06-18%20at%202.00.12%20pm-1.png" border="0" alt="Airbnb billboards in San Francisco"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The campaign in San Francisco launches as Airbnb </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-cant-solve-its-housing-crisis-2015-6">is waiting for the city's Board of Supervisors</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to make up its mind on legislation capping the number of days, if at all, a host can rent a unit. In the interim, the company and the city have been </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-report-blames-airbnb-for-housing-shortage-airbnb-strikes-back-2015-5">trading reports back-and-forth</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> about what Airbnb is doing to the housing supply and contributing monetarily.</span></p>
<p>It looks like Airbnb is hoping to make that message crystal clear and maybe tug on our heart strings a bit in the process.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-cant-solve-its-housing-crisis-2015-6" >San Francisco is in a housing crisis, but we have no idea where to go from here</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-san-francisco-regulations-2015-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/barbie-themed-argentina-hotel-room-2014-11">Inside A Bizarre Barbie-Themed Hotel Room In Argentina That Is Already Booked Until Next Year</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/there-are-fewer-jobs-on-wall-street-theyre-not-coming-back-and-its-no-biggie-2015-6Wall Street's lost jobs aren't coming back, and it’s no biggiehttp://www.businessinsider.com/there-are-fewer-jobs-on-wall-street-theyre-not-coming-back-and-its-no-biggie-2015-6
Thu, 18 Jun 2015 10:47:00 -0400Jonathan Marino
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5582d1866bb3f72c3e992691-1200-924/rtr30uca-1.jpg" border="0" alt="RTR30UCA"><span>Don’t believe the hype.&nbsp;</span><br></span></p>
<p>Contrary to a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jobs-cuts-on-wall-street-2015-6">New York Times op-ed</a> from the Partnership for New York City, Wall Street doesn’t need “help” on the jobs front.</p>
<p>The financial services industry hasn’t needed “help” since 2008 — and to hear some of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rich-fuld-speech-2015-5">ex-CEOs of the banks that failed speak publicly</a> now, it’s not even clear they ever did.</p>
<p>The reason Wall Street isn’t in need of any help is because the best-paid people are making more money right now than they were before the crash. It’s hiring and retention of the rank and file at banks that isn’t keeping pace.</p>
<p>On Wall Street, the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/truth-about-stagnant-wall-st-pay-2015-3">rich keep getting richer and the middle class is being slowly eroded</a>. The jobs most frequently lost were the ones paying $75,000 and less, according to a survey by the&nbsp;<span>Partnership for New York City.</span></p>
<p>Those lower paying jobs being cut in New York City are being eliminated not through secular pressure, but through technological advancements.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Back to why we're worried about Wall Street jobs at all.</p>
<p>The Partnership study contrasts two timeframes: 2005-2007 and 2011-2013. That is: pre-crisis, and post-crash.&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Despite the fact that NYC’s financial sector jobs make up 9% of overall employment, the sector’s pay represents 18% of the city’s annual tax revenue.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">But here's the thing. That revenue will be just fine in NYC.&nbsp;<span>Wall Street may be losing headcount, but it's growing talent. That should have been the lede of the report.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Since the crisis financial services firms have actually </span><em style="line-height: 1.5em;">added</em><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> staff at senior levels. The key areas where banks have been adding more employees in New York are in the legal and risk departments. These employees tend to cost more, owing to the fact they have to recruit senior managers.&nbsp;<span>&nbsp;</span><span>They're making north of $300,000 a year or between $150,000 and $300,000.</span></span></p>
<p>People who are based in New York City tend to cost the most too. This is one of the reasons jobs that pay less are relocated to other areas.</p>
<p>Many lower-cost employees have been either laid off or jettisoned to places like Florida, New Jersey and Delaware. The jobs that pay the absolute <em>least</em> on Wall Street are the ones being eliminated with the greatest frequency. But there’s still plenty of work to go around for seasoned professionals.</p>
<p>And, thanks to regulation, for the foreseeable future, anyone working in compliance or interacting with regulators <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-successful-ex-bank-regulators-on-wall-street-2015-6">will be in demand on Wall Street.<br></a></p>
<p><span>So as long as big banks continue to find a need for new senior staff, reports like the one from the Partnership for New York City shouldn’t be taken with a sense of alarm so much as they should be consumed with a few grains of salt. New York City and its tax base should be just fine.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/there-are-fewer-jobs-on-wall-street-theyre-not-coming-back-and-its-no-biggie-2015-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wwe-brock-lesnar-facts-wrestling-2015-4">12 awesome facts about WWE superstar Brock Lesnar</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/barney-frank-of-frank-dodd-act-joins-bank-board-2015-6Barney Frank is joining a bank boardhttp://www.businessinsider.com/barney-frank-of-frank-dodd-act-joins-bank-board-2015-6
Thu, 18 Jun 2015 10:28:00 -0400Lucinda Shen
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5582d142eab8eaa570992699-1200-924/barney-frank-testifies-at-a-senate-hearing.jpg" border="0" alt="Barney Frank testifies at a Senate hearing">The retired House Democrat known for introducing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform act back in 2009 recently said he is “very supportive of banking.”</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">That was right after Frank was appointed to the board of directors of New York-based Signature Bank on Wednesday, the <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/06/17/barney-frank-yes-that-barney-frank-joins-a-bank-board/">Wall Street Journal reported</a>.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Frank was a linchpin in passing his name-sake post-crisis financial reform, which placed significant restrictions on bank activities. It aimed to make risk-taking behavior more difficult for companies and shift power to the consumers.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">During the interview with the Wall Street Journal, Frank said he liked Signature Bank's business model because it didn't include the financial products he found so troubling during the crisis.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">“They don’t get involved with exotic derivatives and credit default swaps,” he said.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Signature works primarily with privately-owned businesses, and has posted good results, even while other banks have struggled. According to the WSJ the bank posted its 22nd consecutive quarter of record earnings last quarter.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">"I was flattered to be asked," said Frank, who retired from congress in 2013 and became an author, public speaker and NBC contributor.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/barney-frank-of-frank-dodd-act-joins-bank-board-2015-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/excel-what-if-analysis-data-tables-2015-4">This is the Excel trick that will change everything about how you work with data</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/496-uber-cars-seized-by-new-york-city-authorities-2015-6New York City has seized 496 Uber cars for illegal pickupshttp://www.businessinsider.com/496-uber-cars-seized-by-new-york-city-authorities-2015-6
Wed, 17 Jun 2015 11:01:00 -0400Graham Rapier
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/55817d7b6da811ee1d3c4f4f-644-483/uber-u-light-10.jpg" border="0" alt="Uber U light">Facing increasing pressure from the taxi industry, authorities in New York have begun to crack down on Uber — issuing tickets and seizing cars of Uber drivers who participate in illegal pickups in the city.</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Between April 29 and June 15, the <a href="http://nypost.com/2015/06/16/hundreds-of-uber-cars-seized-for-illegal-pickups/"><span class="s2">New York Post reports</span></a> that NYC authorities seized 496 cars from Uber drivers taking illegal street hails, mostly at the three airports in the region.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Uber spokesman Matt Wing said that “street hails are not permitted on the Uber platform — period. This is a small group of bad actors and the violations add up to less than one hundredth of one percent of our rides over the same time period.”</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Airports are the last domestic frontier for Uber, and even in cities where the service is well-ingrained, it faces <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-uber-suspends-operations-in-boise-idaho-2015-2"><span class="s2">constant scrutiny</span></a>.</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;The seizures of Uber cars were part of a larger operation that confiscated a total of 938 for-hire vehicles operating illegally, according to Taxi and Limousine Commission spokesman Allan Fromberg.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">“Our officers noted an uptick in illegal activity attributable to licensed for-hire vehicles acting outside their authority,” Fromberg told the Post. “And seizures have a greater deterrent value than summonses alone.”</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">These small setbacks just don’t seem to add up for the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-uber-took-over-the-world-2015-6"><span class="s2">five-year-old ride sharing company</span></a>. The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/ubers-french-resistance.html?_r=0"><span class="s2">New York Times Magazine reported</span></a> that the company is reimbursing its drivers who incur fines and tickets in Paris. And <a href="https://fortune.com/2015/06/17/ubers-alibaba-like-approach-in-china/">in China,</a> it relies on huge driver subsidies to ensure customers are only billed at cost.</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Uber will soon face a major test in New York. Mayor Bill de Blasio will <a href="http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20150602/BLOGS04/150609981/judge-orders-city-to-explain-why-regulators-shouldnt-stop-uber">appear in court</a> on June 22 to face allegations from four of the city’s largest taxi financiers that the city should not have permitted any passenger pick-ups through an app. They allege that an "e-hail" is synonymous with a traditional street hail, the exclusive domain of yellow cabs.</span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ubers-first-employees-2015-6?op=1#ixzz3dKOibgAb" >Meet 12 of Uber's first employees — three of them are now billionaires</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/496-uber-cars-seized-by-new-york-city-authorities-2015-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-versus-taxi-california-2015-6">Is Uber really cheaper than a taxi?</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/new-report-about-sec-chair-mary-jo-white-and-revolving-doors-2015-6The head of the SEC is under attackhttp://www.businessinsider.com/new-report-about-sec-chair-mary-jo-white-and-revolving-doors-2015-6
Wed, 17 Jun 2015 10:13:00 -0400Portia Crowe
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5581a22feab8ea087053bd2e-1200-924/elizabeth-warren-mary-jo-white-1.jpg" alt="elizabeth warren mary jo white" border="0"></p><p>People are upset with Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White again.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warrens-letter-to-mary-jo-white-2015-6">wrote a scathing letter</a> to White, calling her out for what the senator said were conflicts of interest related to her former job and her husband's job as a Wall Street lawyer.</p>
<p>Now, a non-profit that advocates for campaign finance reform has written a <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/new.demandprogress.org/images/Rootstrikers_-_Mary_Jo_White_the_SEC_and_the_Revolving_Door_Report.pdf">65-page report</a> attacking White herself and the "revolving door" at the SEC.</p>
<p>They also created a website with a pretty personal URL: <a href="http://www.nomoremaryjos.com">www.nomoremaryjos.com</a>.</p>
<p>(It links to a petition to President Obama: "Please do not nominate or confirm another weak-on-Wall-Street revolving door commissioner.")</p>
<p>Details of the report include:</p>
<ul>
<li>White's time at her former law firm, Debevoise &amp; Plimpton (an "elite New York City Wall Street" firm, according to the report)</li>
<li>her interactions with various Wall Street firms since joining the SEC</li>
<li>her ideology (reportedly similar to the "worldview of the big banks")</li>
<li>her "revolving door" approach to hiring both at Debevoise and at the SEC</li>
</ul>
<p>A spokesperson from Rootstrikers, the non-profit that wrote the report, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-16/sec-chair-s-conflicts-fuel-sympathy-for-wall-street-group-says">told Bloomberg</a> they "wanted to put this report out and really lay out a strong case on why the Obama administration should have chosen better last time around... We intend to encourage them to make the right choice this time."</p>
<p>Senator Warren has a talent for rallying people&nbsp;– quickly&nbsp;– behind just about any cause she chooses. <span class="message_content">Last year, she managed to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-wins-the-treasury-loses-2015-1">prevent an investment banker </a>from getting a top position at the Treasury. And, more recently, she got a decent reaction out of the Federal Reserve when she went after them for a potential <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-is-looking-into-a-fed-leak-2015-2">information leak</a>.</span></p>
<p><span class="message_content">Rootstriker's website cites Senator Warren, and the report appears to be inspired by her letter.</span></p>
<p><span class="message_content">In response to the letter last month, White said: "Senator Warren’s mischaracterization of my statements and the agency’s accomplishments is unfortunate, but it will not detract from the work we have done, and will continue to do, on behalf of investors."<br></span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warrens-letter-to-mary-jo-white-2015-6" >Everyone thinks Elizabeth Warren went too far in a too-personal letter she wrote to the SEC chairwoman</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-report-about-sec-chair-mary-jo-white-and-revolving-doors-2015-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/robot-chef-ces-asia-2015-5">This robot chef can cook any type of dish</a></p>